Boys Basketball: Jones carries Carroll past Plymouth Whitemarsh

WHITEMARSH — Derrick Jones stood by the 3-point line, got the ball, and confidently fired a shot over a Plymouth Whitemarsh defender.

Count it.

Later, Jones corralled a rebound and muscled his way to the hoop before finishing with a dazzling shot on a play that so perfectly summed up his effortless combination of finesse and power.

Finally, with the Patriots’ 72-55 nonleague win over the Colonials in hand, All-Delco point guard Yosef Yacob slashed through the lane and lobbed up a pass seemingly aimed at no one in particular. Of course, the 6-5 Jones came soaring through the air and threw down a vicious dunk that put an exclamation point on a marquee win of the young season for Carroll (5-0).

The final line read 22 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks. All in a day’s work for a player who’s barely started to scratch the surface of his talent and perhaps an official message that he’s arrived.

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“The improvement over one year from his freshman year last year stepping on campus ‘till now is the biggest improvement I’ve seen in a player in 12 years of coaching,” Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk said. “The sky’s the limit for him.”

Lofty praise from a coach who’s had some good ones come through Matsonford Road, but with the way Jones controlled things against the Colonials (3-4), it’s warranted. Yet the most appealing thing about Jones to Romanczuk and the Patriots is that Jones is far from a finished product. He’ll need some time to refine things, but it’s hard to teach perfect timing, as Jones showed off with his blocks. And it’s hard to teach the ability to jump through a maze of players to come through with a rebound.

“... I haven’t coached someone who has that knack to block shots the way he does and rebound the basketball like he does,” Romanczuk said. “...There’s a lot of things he’s improved on and the scary thing is — the great thing for us — is that he still has things he can improve on. ... He played like a man. He didn’t play like a 15-year-old sophomore.”

Jones’ performance would have been impressive for anyone, but the fact that he’s merely a sophomore means even better things are ahead. Against PW, he showed an ability to score with jumpers, with a physical game down low and with the lone 3-ball. Not too shabby for a kid who was the Patriots’ fourth scoring option last year.

“It’s a lot hearing that from a coach like Coach Paul,” Jones said. “I don’t think like I play like a 15-year old. I do think I play like a grown man because I was crashing the glass, getting a lot of rebounds, scoring when the team needed me and blocking the ball when they got beat off the dribble. It’s great playing like that.”

And while Yacob (11 points, seven assists, six rebounds) is in his final season at Carroll before taking his game to Binghamton, it seems like the Patriots will be fine without him running the show if Nick Jones can consistently deliver the type of performance he put forth against the Colonials. Jones handled the ball for much of the second half, displaying a sense of confidence and calm that he’s learned to harness after being a little more wild as a freshman. Jones and Joe Mostardi each tacked on 17 points for the Patriots, and Jones added four assists.

“He’s learned a lot,” Yacob said of his understudy. “Before, he used to be out of control, just going to the basket, but you start to talk to him and he listens. He’s willing to listen and he goes hard. He understands the game a bit more now which is great, and he’s going to evolve into a really good player.”

Looks like that evolution is already going on.

In other nonleague action:

Bishop McDevitt 79, Chichester 71

Perley Mack scored a team-best 18 points for the Eagles (4-3) and David Clapp had his best game of the year by ripping up the nets for 15 points, but Chichester found itself on the wrong side of 51-29 free throw disparity and fell to the Lancers.

Dimitrius Muse (13 points) and Marcus Turner (10) also factored in double-digit scoring for Chi, but the Eagles were never able to overcome a cold-shooting second quarter where they were outscored 25-7.

Downingtown West 49, Radnor 41

Nelson Blickman went off for his second straight 20-point game as he dropped in 22 points on the strength of 13-for-20 shooting from the charity stripe, but the Red Raiders (3-5) couldn’t overcome three single-digit scoring quarters.

Reigning Daily Times Player of the Year Rondae Jefferson posted yet another double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds to finish his tournament average at 18.5 points per game as the Clippers fell in the fifth-place game, Darius Robinson and Rashan DeJarnette netted eight points apiece, but the Clippers (4-2) were beaten by another team ranked in the top 5 nationally.

Central League

Lower Merion 74, Marple Newtown 34

Mike McDevitt led the Tigers with 10 points, but Marple Newtown couldn’t overcome a 25-3 deficit against the PIAA Class AAAA runnerup.

Tom Davis and Tim MacNeal dumped in six points apiece.

For more information on this game and for more high school sports action, please visit delcohssports.wordpress.com.